The UAE authorities continue to arbitrarily hold 35 detainees in what it calls “counselling centres”, despite expiration of their sentences, including Abdelrahim Al-Zarouni, Saeed Al-Wahidi, Ali Al-Mane and Tarek Al-Harmoudi, who completed their 10-year prison term.
The UAE authorities had arrested the four on July 25, 2012, as part of a security crackdown against many demanding political and human rights activists in the country. This has been a systematic policy of the UAE authorities for many years, during which hundreds of peaceful and human rights activists, who are calling for political reform and democratic elections, have been imprisoned.
International human rights reports accuse the UAE of detaining hundreds of people for expressing their opinion under the umbrella of “combating terrorism and its funding”. Meanwhile, the UAE continues to detain dozens of them despite the expiry of their sentences, in clear violation of international law, and a flagrant violation of the detainee’s right to freedom after the expiry of his prison term.
